JFK waves to the Dublin crowds as the motorcade arrives at College Green. (NLI, Independent Newspapers Collection)

Arrival in Dublin

26 June 1963

Air Force One brought President Kennedy into Dublin Airport at 8pm, where he was met by President Eamon de Valera and Taoiseach Seán Lemass. After formal speeches, they set off into central Dublin, where the Irish enthusiasm for JFK became very clear.

The motorcade travelled through the city to the Phoenix Park, along a route lined with flags and banners, in what De Valera later referred to as “a triumphal procession.” Up to 80,000 people crowded O’Connell Street alone, throwing ticker tape and cheering. Every vantage point was used, with those lucky enough to have access leaning recklessly out of windows and waving furiously. “He was very, very, deeply moved by the warmth of the reception he got here,” according to Seán Lemas. “It wasn’t so much the enthusiasm of the crows, the cheers, the general outpouring of welcome to him as what he sensed in them…they weren’t asking for anything; it was just enthusiasm for himself as a person.”